


The Secret (in the workplace)

by BlueAlmond



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, M/M, and more but they don't do much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 01:52:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15353616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueAlmond/pseuds/BlueAlmond
Summary: Working with your ex shouldn’t be so difficult.





	The Secret (in the workplace)

**Author's Note:**

> I have a thousand tests coming, so of course I decided to finish a story that had been lying in my laptop for a while.

Alexander Hamilton knew he was good at his job, but that was because he always had wanted to do it. He could recall back in elementary school he would play pretend about being in court and roasting people on the dais, impressing the jury and simply being awesome at arguing, and he really was good at it. It was only logical he’d start working as a public defender, too, immediately after he passed the bar, because everybody deserved decent representation, no matter their resources. After a couple of months, he became really glad of all the scholarships he’d gotten, sure, but he was fine. He was doing what he wanted, even if he couldn’t afford a new console or expensive chocolates.

Still, when George Washington, manager partner in ‘Washington, Adams and Franklin’ approached him after trial one day and offered him a job in his firm, he had to take a moment and consider it. Not only would it mean a lot more money—in two months he’d probably make more than what he’d made in the last four years working as a public defender—but he would be working with renowned professionals that could teach him a lot, and work on cases he really cared about instead of helping whoever might need him.

Washington gave him a week to think about it, and Alexander thanked him with a smile, trying to send all his financial interests to the back of his mind. He didn’t think he was a materialistic person, but he liked nice clothes and he had made the mistake of moving to an apartment with a higher rent when he passed the bar as some sort of gesture—and because the people on the interviews he’d had in Columbia always frowned or grimaced in some way when they saw his address—and somewhat at some point during the last winter he’d adopted a cat and that meant another mouth to feed aside from his that already liked eating a little too much, and then his fridge broke and he couldn’t survive without a fridge! But what really broke him was the case he was assigned the very next day: his client not only was most definitely guilty, he was a homophobic bastard that had committed a hate crime and should most certainly rot in jail, but his boss told him he couldn’t refuse him, and Alexander really didn’t like losing, not even on purpose.

And so, he took the job. What he never imagined would happen was to meet face to face to the ex he hadn’t seen or heard about in years first thing in the morning, right there at the elevator. They stared at each other with equally horrified faces for the solid thirty seconds it took to reach their floor, because of course they were heading to the same floor. Still, they didn’t exchange a single word, and parted awkwardly in opposite ways once the doors opened. For a moment he worried he would lose his way because the guy downstairs had given him the most vague directions ever, and would have to go back like an idiot, but Washington’s office was huge and had glass walls and really was just at the end of the long, wavy hallway, so after what felt like an eternity walking he relaxed.

Washington was on the phone. When he noticed him by the door, he covered the microphone with a hand and told Alexander: “I’ll have someone show you around, give me a minute.”

Alexander nodded with a smile he hoped didn’t look as awkward as he felt. Fortunately merely a minute later, a young woman was talking to him.

“Mr. Hamilton? I’m Maria Reynolds. I’ll show you to your cubicle.”

“I…”

“That call will take a while,” she explained with a sheepish smile. “And I assure you, I can tell you everything you need to know in your first day.”

“Okay,” he nodded, gulped and followed her.

She did, indeed, know everything there was to know about the place.

“I’ve been working here for five years,” she explained, “and I know everything and everyone. If you ever have a doubt regarding, well, anything really, you can either ask me or preferably Aaron. He’s another associate, and probably the nicest guy in this place. Not that there aren’t other nice people, my sister in law is another associate, for example, and there’s Hercules that’s also very patient, and Lafayette too, but really, Aaron is the best at explaining stuff.”

“Okay,” Alexander nodded, giggling nervously, hoping there were two Aarons in the place.

“You have a cubicle over there,” she pointed, “with another two associates. There are other three who have their own offices in this floor, and Aaron is one of them, here. Hello, Aaron, do you have a minute?”

It wasn’t a particularly large office—it was in fact, quite small—but it had walls and a door so he figured that was something he could be jealous of. It was also full of plants. Because obviously, the man that greeted them with a tight smile was one Aaron Burr, a man he once had called the love of his life and who’d disappeared from it a long, long time ago.

“There’s something I need to do,” said Maria, apologetically. “Could you see him to his cubicle? I know Washington already has a case for him but he’s busy arguing with Mr. Adams right now.”

“That will take a while,” speculated Aaron, and nodded. “Sure, don’t worry. Mr. Hamilton, right? Please, come in.”

“Great, see you later!”

“Sure, bye,” mumbled Alexander, awkwardly. He cleared his throat. “ _Mr_. _Hamilton_?”

Aaron clicked his tongue and shrugged. “What else was I supposed to say?”

“I don’t know. ‘Oh hey, it’s been a few years, how are you?’. You could’ve at least not acted like you didn’t know me.”

“We shouldn’t mention anything about our past relationship,” replied Aaron, crossing his arms over his chest.

Alexander frowned. “What? You want to keep it a secret? I’m pretty sure they—”

“We can say that we met in college and we didn’t get along, but anything about us being together is… unnecessary. It’ll make things uncomfortable. I don’t _need_ that.”

“Burr—”

“It can’t be that hard, Alexander. I’m sure you can manage to not tell everyone every detail about your life for once!”

“I just don’t get it. What, are you in the closet again? I know I haven’t checked your Facebook page in a while, but you can’t have deleted _everything_.”

“That’s none of your business, Hamilton, jut… _please_ , keep your mouth shut. That’s all I’m asking you.”

He didn’t seem convinced and stared at Burr for an entire minute with a deep frown and tightened lips, but eventually he sighed, and nodded. “Alright, I won’t mention how many times we fucked while we were in college. Happy?”

Aaron could’ve groaned, or rolled his eyes or gesticulated with his hands. He could’ve simply glared, and Alexander would have known what was going through his head. But they had been together for a considerate amount of time, and clearly Burr still knew what to expect and what to consider a victory enough to ignore the phrasing. So all he said was: “Yes,” and though he wasn’t openly smiling, Alexander could tell he was satisfied. “Now if you don’t have any more doubts, I’m sure you can find your cubicle; it’s at the end of the hall, and the only desk that’s not messy, though I’m sure it won’t stay that way for long.”

He was embarrassed to admit how fast he’d checked Facebook once he was seating blissfully alone in his new desk. If they were going to lie, then he certainly would have to make sure his new co-workers couldn’t see a couple of incriminatory pictures, but when he searched for Aaron’s page, he realized he wasn’t on his list of friends. He was back in Aaron’s office in an instant.

“You deleted your Facebook page?”

Aaron shrugged. “It was a mess, and I never talked to ninety percent of my ‘friends’, so I figured that was the fastest solution.”

“A solution implies there was a problem, Burr.”

“And there was one,” he sighed and rubbed his forehead, “how about, unprofessional behavior? Employers make sure to check that sort of thing to know who they’re hiring. I just wanted to be sure that when they googled my name, nothing embarrassing would come up.”

“Oh, you mean like, pictures of you smiling with other people. Yes, that is so incriminatory,” Alexander rolled his eyes and threw his hands to the air. “You wouldn’t even get drunk in college, Burr, so that’s bullshit. There was nothing on _Facebook_ of all places that could taint your image. You just wanted to cut relations with everyone in Princeton. Why?”

“Well I had my fucking reasons, Alexander; you’re not entitled to an explanation.”

“I know that, but you tried giving me one nevertheless, which means the real one embarrasses you.”

Of course it embarrassed him, but Hamilton didn’t need to hear that. He didn’t need to know that yes, he had, in fact, deleted his account because of him, because he never would understand the negative impact of his influence on people. He never would understand how, back when Aaron had been working on the DA’s office and word got around about a certain public defender, the last thing he wanted was to be connected to him. He never would understand how irritating it had been to check old pictures and feel _heartache_ over something he’d been so glad about ending at the time, how he’d gotten so irrationally angry he’d just gone and deleted his account without a second thought or ounce of regret. The only thing he felt sorry about was not making a more believable excuse for it. “Go to your cubicle, Alexander.”

Hamilton sighed. “To do what? Washington is still on the phone.”

“I don’t know, Alexander, I’m not your babysitter. Go play on your phone, have breakfast or check out the balcony and, I don’t know, trip and fall to your death.”

“That’s very mature of you.”

“Get out of my office.”

“Okay, okay,” he rolled his eyes and looked around, finding the sliding doors that led to a nice furnished terrace.

The moment he was alone in the balcony, he called the only person he reached often that had known them both back there. He needed to rant to someone without having to make sure he wasn’t saying any names, which was unnecessarily frustrating. Just in case, he decided to stay away from the edge.

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Laurens, thank God!” Alexander groaned, “You have no idea what just happened. I knew following my selfish economical aspirations was a mistake. You should’ve warned me with more vehemence!”

“ _What? Dude, calm down and breathe for a second. What happened? Did you have a bad first day? I’m sorry, man._ ”

“No, it’s not that, so far it’s been quite cool, I love it.”

There was silence at the other end of the line for a moment. “ _What?_ ”

Alexander sighed. “I just didn’t think _Burr_ would be here.”

“ _What?! You mean Burr as in the polite, infuriatingly nice, hot and smart guy that broke your heart, your ex, that Aaron Burr?_ ”

“Yeah, he works here, in the same floor and everything.”

“ _You’re kidding,_ ” the bastard chuckled, “ _you can’t have that bad luck. Well, at least you guys could finally have that talk you had pending._ ”

“Forget it, the guy wants me to act like nothing happened.”

“ _What?_ ”

“I know right? Did you know he deleted his Facebook page?” he sighed. “I’m just scared I’ll screw up. Maybe it’s ridiculous but it sounded really important to him, and maybe he already hates me but I still don’t want to make things worse…”

“ _Then don’t_.”

“Laurens, be realistic, _please_. I know it’ll only be a matter of time before I let something slip.”

“ _Well make an effort, dude. I know you can do it. Well, I want to believe you can._ ”

“Jeez, thanks.” He shook his head and wished the man didn’t live in a different state. “You should visit, man.”

“ _Yeah, maybe, in two years or so, when I can have my own consult._ ”

Alexander chuckled. “Hurry up and become a real doctor, man.”

“ _What do you think I am? A trainee? Fuck you man, I save lives already. I just need to live in the hospital for a few more months._ ”

“I thought you said years.”

“ _Well years are made of months, aren’t they? Go back to work, dude._ ”

He did, even though he had nothing to do at the moment. He went back in fully intending to be a mature adult and do his best to cause a good impression and not make Aaron’s life any harder because he wasn’t a complete asshole and, sure, the guy had broken his heart and left him a complete mess right before finals in junior year but he was over it, and if they were going to work together, they needed to be able to interact like nothing had happened—especially if they didn’t want other people finding out, and if Aaron didn’t want it, then Alexander didn’t want it either. He figured that by keeping to himself, he would be able to reduce the impact his presence could have on Burr, and they could go on with their lives like they weren’t in fact forced to see each other again. He was almost optimistic for the impressive amount of seven minutes.

Because really, Alexander didn’t know that he had already turned Aaron’s world upside down, _again_ ¸ just by being there. Seeing him in the elevator at eight in the morning had been enough, because eight years and a haircut had only made him even more attractive than the scrappy boy he’d been in Princeton, and Aaron was _so_ not ready for that. And really, Alexander Hamilton had _no right_ to look so attractive while pouring coffee into a mug, it was _not_ fair. And so he said: “Whoever finishes the coffee needs to refill it.”

Alexander bit his tongue. “Yeah, I figured. I do have some basic manners, in case you were wondering.”

Aaron shrugged and went to prepare himself some tea. “One can never know.”

“Well you _should_ ,” he jeered, “I’m pretty sure without them you never would’ve liked me.”

“Alexander,” hissed Aaron, wide-eyed.

“Come on, that couldn’t possibly mean anything and no one is around, now you’re being paranoid! Get that stick out of your ass,” he smirked, “at least while you’re working.” Alexander knew right then that he was screwing up, but in his defense, Aaron yelled first.

“Could you be any more childish? I can’t believe I honestly thought I could trust you to act like an adult for five minutes—”

“I’m trying to act like an adult but how could I when you’re the one who’s treating me like I don’t even know how to make coffee and—”

“Is everything okay here?” asked Washington, looking stunned. Three or four people were behind him with similar expressions.

“Yes,” Aaron cleared his throat. “We just…”

“Burr and I knew each other,” blurted Alexander, “back in college, and we were, well…” he shrugged one shoulder and smiled sheepishly, “remembering old arguments?”

“Oh,” said Washington, “I see. Well, if you come with me to my office now, Alexander? I have a case for you.”

“Yes, of course.”

Thirty minutes later and back in his cubicle, he felt like a dying animal being circled by vultures. He almost spoke his prayers out loud when two of them approached him with twin, wicked smiles.

“Hello new boy, I’m Angelica Schuyler, my office is right across Aaron’s,” she introduced herself with a friendly grin that quickly turned mischievous, then crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her hip to the side, against his desk. “So, you knew Aaron in college?”

“Yeah, he was a year above me.”

“How was he?” asked the other one. “I’m Lafayette, by the way. I love your suit.”

“Thank you,” Alexander gulped. “But what do you mean?”

“Well,” Angelica chuckled, “was he always like that? I mean, in here he’s always been the perfect employee, you know?, discreet, diligent and polite to everyone.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I ever heard him yell before today,” confessed Lafayette, chuckling softly. “And you got him to yell over… what was it? I heard coffee in the middle of it, but I really hope it wasn’t that.”

“No, uh,” he scratched the back of his head nervously, “it was a little stupid, but I was rude, I guess. And we, well, I guess we fought a lot during college, but I fought with everyone so I don’t think it had nothing to do with him.”

“You just got on his nerves?” said a guy that was only then passing down the hall. He smiled politely and offered him a hand. “I don’t think we’ve met, my name’s Hercules Mulligan.”

“Alexander Hamilton.”

“Yeah, I know, you made Burr yell. Everyone’s talking about it.”

Alexander could physically feel the blood leaving his face. “Really?”

“No, don’t worry. It was a little shocking but we’ll forget soon. And we’re neighbors! I mean, that’s my desk,” he pointed the one right next to Alexander’s.

Quickly he realized he shouldn’t have worried about the vultures at all; they were all nice and fun people. He became fast friends with almost everyone in his floor, aside from a few exceptions such as Aaron and another guy he couldn’t stand that liked purple too much. Before he knew it, three weeks had gone by, he had won five cases for the firm and he was part of the group.

During lunch one Tuesday, Hercules nagged him with his elbow and asked: “You’re coming to the party, right?”

“What party?”

“The firm’s Christmas party!” yelled Lafayette. “It’s usually really fun, believe it or not.”

“Honestly I don’t think Mr. Franklin would have it any other way,” commented Hercules with a coy smile. “I’ve heard he used to be _wild_.”

Alexander snorted. “Well, then I guess I’m coming. When is it?”

“Next Friday, man.”

“What? How come I didn’t know this?”

“I think they send an email every year a week before,” said Lafayette, shrugging one shoulder. “You can bring someone.”

“Can I not bring anyone?”

“Sure. I never do,” said Lafayette.

“I usually bring my wife but this year she’s not coming,” said Hercules.

“What, why not?”

“She says she wouldn’t be able to tolerate the entire evening without a drink,” he smirked, and nobody needed the reminder, but he explained anyway: “and since she’s pregnant…”

“Yes, pregnant women can’t drink, we know that, Herc.”

Hercules glared at him, but shortly joined everybody else in their laughter. They were a nice group, and Alexander felt at ease with them. Going to the party with them was like the adult version of going to prom with your group of friends, only with better clothes, better food and more expensive alcohol. The place itself was considerably better as well—no terrible boyband or low colorful lights in the gym with its squeaky floor. The music was nice instead, and the event hall was well-illuminated and distilled money. It was the kind of scenario Alexander had always wanted to be a part of; the kind of scenario where Aaron always fit effortlessly. At the beginning of their relationship, Alexander had envied him because of it, but as time passed and he started imagining a future with him, that had only been one more thing he relished about having Aaron for a boyfriend. And there had been many. The twenty seven months they’d been together had been very special and were filled with memories he still treasured, and he couldn’t understand how Aaron could just go and renege of it all. Alexander knew he never could. The only reason he could pretend was because he still cared too much about him and didn’t want to hurt him, didn’t want him to hate him even more.

For Alexander it wasn’t easy to do or say something he wasn’t convinced of. He could do it; anybody who had seen him in trial while he was working as a public defender was aware of it. But he didn’t like it. He didn’t feel comfortable doing it unless he had a good reason, and apparently, trying to protect something that was already broken was a good reason when Aaron’s smile was involved.

Thinking about Aaron’s smile made Alexander realize he didn’t think he’d seen it in nine years, if he didn’t count the weak one he’d given him when Maria had first brought him to his office.

Alexander could have given his life over that smile back in Princeton. Perhaps he still would.

“Alexander,” Lafayette passed him a glass filled with champagne, “how do you like this party so far?”

Alexander grinned and took a sip of his glass. “It’s pretty fun. I’ll definitely come next year again.”

“Yeah, I don’t think we’re actually allowed to skip it. The invitations are for show,” said Angelica. Her shoes were shorter than the ones she usually took to the office and she still looked imposing somehow, even though her eyes were finally leveled with his. She smirked, apparently having caught Alexander’s train of thought. “Hey look at that, Alexander is almost as tall as me when I’m wearing flat shoes.”

Alexander huffed and rolled his eyes, as everyone around them cackled. “Anyway,” he cleared his throat, “I can’t believe all these people work with us and I’ve never seen them.”

“Well, some of them are our co-workers’ plus one, you know.”

“Yeah, but…” he narrowed his eyes and subtly nodded towards the woman talking to Aaron. “She’s the D.A., right?”

“Yes,” Lafayette nodded, “and Mr. Adams’s wife.”

“What?” Alexander squealed. “What is she doing with _him_?” Supposedly, John Adams used to be a workaholic but learnt to enjoy life at some point during his mid-forties and now only made Washington’s life more difficult by disagreeing with him on every executive decision, and Alexander couldn’t stand him.

“I don’t know man, who gets women?”

Angelica glared, and Lafayette gulped. “Anyway,” he giggled, “she usually spends most of the night talking to Burr.”

“Well, he used to be an A.D.A.,” Angelica shrugged, “and I heard he was good.”

“Really?”

“You didn’t know?”

Alexander shrugged with a sheepish smile. “I told you I never heard of him again after he graduated from Princeton.”

“Yeah,” nodded Hercules, “I mean, ask me about any of the guys I knew in college and I couldn’t even tell you if they’re still alive.”

“Yes, but you graduated like two decades ago, not seven years,” replied Lafayette with a mocking grin.

“Aaron graduated before me,” pointed Alexander.

Lafayette was about to tell him something but stopped talking when the woman they’d been talking about approached them with a big grin.

“Oh, Alexander Hamilton?” the woman smirked. “We heard a lot about you back when you were a public defender.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “You had quite a reputation, so I decided I should meet you in person.”

“Oh,” he gulped, “that’s flattering,” he cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

She chuckled. “Relax, I promise my opinion of you, be it bad or good, won’t change the one of my husband,” she winked. “I mean it could if I wanted to, but I try not to when it comes to young people. You still have a lot to grow, you know?”

Alexander didn’t exactly know what to say aside from ‘thank you’ and he didn’t exactly want to say that either, but somehow he managed to make conversation with her without making a fool of himself, and judging by his friends’ faces, he wasn’t doing too bad. Still, forty minutes or so later, he decided he could use some time away from all of it, and excused himself to go for a smoke. He wasn’t surprised that there was somebody else outside, though he snorted at his luck when he realized who that person was.

“I thought you were going to quit,” he commented as a greeting.

Aaron sighed and shrugged. “I tried.”

Alexander chuckled and asked him for a lighter with a gesture, and for the first time since they met again, they fell into a comfortable silence. Alexander couldn’t remember if there had been a lot of those when they were dating. He liked talking, and Aaron had liked listening to him. They’d had interesting discussions about everything and nothing, arguing about civil rights at one moment and then laughing over whether dumplings should be sweet or salty at the other. He didn’t think any of the people he’d dated after had been as quick as him to follow the conversation like that.

“You seemed nervous when Abigail approached you, but she’s charmed.”

“Is she?”

Aaron arched his eyebrows. “She is.”

“I didn’t know you worked for the DA’s office.”

“Yeah,” he exhaled a big cloud of smoke, “I stayed for a little over two years. It wasn’t really my thing.”

“I heard you were good.”

Aaron shrugged and didn’t comment on it. He finished his cigarette and seemed to ponder whether to go back inside or not, and after a second’s hesitation he lighted another one. “I heard you were pretty good as a public defender too, though that wasn’t surprising at all.”

“I’m flattered, but I feel like you didn’t intend it to be a compliment.”

Aaron smirked. “I didn’t,” he admitted with the cigarette between his lips, and maybe Alexander should’ve gotten mad. Maybe he should’ve been offended. If one of his friends said something like that he would’ve pouted, and if someone insufferable like Jefferson did he would’ve fought him, but it was Aaron. Aaron wasn’t a friend, but he wasn’t an enemy either.

Thus, Alexander threw his head back and laughed. For some reason, he felt like maybe their relationship could go from barely civil to friendly, and that made him really happy.

õ

Thomas Jefferson was a man proud of his hair and fashion sense. He admitted it without shame. He put a lot of effort on it every day, and for occasions such as parties he made sure to look even more splendid. And when people such as Angelica Schuyler would stop and make a nice comment, he knew he had outdone himself, and had earned a good glass of wine at the end of the day that he could share with James after the girls had gone to bed. That year he considered taking James as his plus one. The man was already living with him, he’d brought him into the most private and special aspect of his life, which were his children, and he was certain, perhaps naïvely so, that James would never leave. He might have been irrational considering how often the man got sick, but that only made him feel even more reassured somehow.

Martha never got sick. Never. But the one time she did, she did for good.

Anyway, half the people in that party had been invited to his wife’s funeral not long enough ago, and he wasn’t ready for them to start questioning his marriage over him taking a man to a party. He wasn’t. And James understood.

James always did, that was one of the reasons why he loved him.

However, the fact that he didn’t take him didn’t mean he couldn’t show him all the pictures of it few days later, to have someone else to talk about how he’d been the one with the best suit and best hair. He’d gritted his teeth when he’d seen Hamilton—the man had good taste, he could give him that, but he would always look out of place in his expensive clothes. He needed to hear his grey and purple looked better than the black and green.

James tended to be the perfect critic. It was either that they thought very similarly, or he knew Thomas well enough to say exactly what he needed to hear, and Thomas didn’t care which one was it. Sitting on his couch with one arm extended over the backrest, checking the firm’s website with the recently updated pictures of the party, Thomas was happy.

James had been comfortably resting his head on the man’s arm when suddenly he stilled. “Wait,” he frowned, “let me see that picture again.”

Thomas stared at him in surprise, but did as he was told, and the smaller man gasped. “What?”

“Those two work there, with you?” He pointed at the pair by the glass doors, probably coming back from a smoke. Thomas hadn’t noticed them before, and was surprised. He thought they didn’t get along.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “that’s Burr and the new guy. I’ve told you about them.”

Madison chuckled. “Oh Thomas, you have no idea… I knew them at college! How can they work together?”

“Right, I forgot you went to Princeton. Wait, so you knew them?”

He nodded. “We were friends, I think, but lost contact. I just can’t believe they’re working together after the way they parted.”

Thomas licked his lips, put the IPad down on the center table and turned to face James fully. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve only seen more dramatic breakups in movies, Thomas.”

“ _Breakups_? You mean they were together?”

James stared at him in shock. “You mean you didn’t know? They _never_ mentioned anything about it?”

Thomas shook his head with a smirk. “No, they didn’t, and I’m pretty sure that was on purpose,” he sniggered. “Oh, James, you’ve given me such a handy material…”

Thomas Jefferson was a man proud of his hair, fashion sense, and mischievousness. He wasn’t _evil_ , but he enjoyed bothering the people he disliked, and he disliked Alexander Hamilton. He didn’t have anything against Burr in particular, but he didn’t much like him either, so bothering him by association wasn’t heavy on his conscience. The Monday after the party, he didn’t say anything. He was still trying to figure out what he should do with that information, and he was busy enough he didn’t even see them. On Tuesday, he didn’t say anything either. He was starting to form a plan in his head but there was something missing, and he needed to find the right time to talk to them, preferably at the same time, but that would be hard since they didn’t interact much.

On Wednesday, the opportunity presented itself.

It wasn’t that he paid exaggerated attention, but from his office he could see whenever Burr went out, and the only reason he would turn right would be to get coffee. Anything else, he would need to go left. That was just the kind of information he would store away absentmindedly, but sure, he _was_ looking for the right time after all, so when he saw Hamilton on his way to the kitchen, he smirked and made his way after them, quietly. He got there shortly after Hamilton, but stayed outside, and almost giggled when he confirmed that there was no one around.

“Congratulations on the Meyer’s case,” Burr told Hamilton, smiling softly. “It was a tough one.”

“Thanks,” responded Hamilton, pleasantly surprised and smiling coyly.

It was almost sweet, which meant it was the perfect time for Thomas to do his thing. “Hello guys,” Thomas greeted them placing an arm over each of their shoulders. “How’s it going?”

“Hello Thomas,” muttered Aaron, frowning slightly.

“Jefferson, why are you touching me?” asked Alexander, with a cheerful tone and a rueful smirk.

“Oh, I’m just glad to see you two being so nice to each other. I know that working with your ex can be difficult, and I admire you guys, for being so civil.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you were keeping it a secret? Jeez, sorry! Well you were doing quite a good job of it, by the way. I mean, if it hadn’t been for the pictures of Christmas James never would’ve recognized you.”

“James?” Alexander frowned.

Aaron gasped. “James Madison?”

“Look at you guys, working as a team. You should work a case together.”

“Jefferson—”

“Relax! If you guys want to keep it a secret, I get it. I won’t go around talking about it. I mean, where would be the fun in that?” he smirked.

Alexander was about to say something and by the way his mouth was curved it couldn’t have been very pleasant, but just then Washington entered the little kitchen closely followed by Lafayette, Hercules and Angelica, and their conversation was abruptly over.

“Oh, you’re all here,” Washington arched his eyebrows. “That’s good. Then I’ll do it here. I wanted to get you all together to talk about something. There’s an important case for our firm that needs to be handled carefully and speedily. I wanted to do it myself but I’ll have to travel to Japan with Mr. Adams for two weeks to solve some things and well,” he cleared his throat. “It’s a big case, and one of our biggest clients, so we decided it was best if we gave it to at least two qualified associates. If anybody wants it…”

“Oh, oh, I think Hamilton and Burr should work that together!” proposed Jefferson.

Washington stared in disbelief.

“Well, they’re getting along better lately,” whispered Lafayette, and Hercules giggled.

“They’re good, well-known and they know each other. I mean here we already know that no matter how good friends we are, no one can work a case with Lafayette or Angelica.”

Hamilton wanted to argue, but judging by everybody’s faces, Jefferson was right.

Washington licked his lips and looked around the room, taking in everybody’s faces. After a moment he nodded and said: “If you two are okay with it, then it’s fine.”

Thomas studied Hamilton and Burr’s faces carefully. The former looked pale and slightly panicky, whereas the later seemed composed as always, but Thomas had known him for three years and he knew what to look for: the twitching fingers, the practiced, slow breathing and the teeth that only didn’t look gritted because there probably was a tongue being pierced by them in between, it was all there, but he wasn’t sure if Washington could see it, because when Burr went and said: “It’s okay by me, sir.” Washington nodded as if he was convinced.

He then gestured for Hamilton to follow him, and Thomas decided he didn’t need to listen to that conversation. He winked at Burr and went back to his office. His job there was done.

õ

Alexander followed Washington to his office biting his tongue. He had been about to say that it was okay by him as well—only after Aaron did, because he didn’t want to go and put the man into an uncomfortable position, even if one half of his brain was yelling to him to scream how okay he was with it while the other half was crying that he was _so_ not okay with it. Working in the same floor was one thing, but working the same case… that would be like back in Princeton the one time they did a presentation together.

That experience had been many things, and Alexander wouldn’t mind repeating it, but he figured this time there would be a lot less sex and a lot more arguing.

“I know you can do this, Alexander,” started Washington once they were far away from the kitchen and prying ears, “I really do, but if you think you’ll have a problem working with Burr…”

“What? No sir, don’t worry, we’re adults. We can do it.”

“Okay…” he didn’t look convinced, but nodded and opened the door to his office. “I got all the information on the client here,” he fished an external hard drive from the top of his desk. “You’ll have to meet with them tomorrow morning, if that’s okay?”

“Yes, of course—”

“And Burr will have to be there.”

Alexander was very close to rolling his eyes, but he was a twenty nine-year old man and restrained himself. “Sir, I promise, it won’t be a problem. We’ll keep all the arguing to when we’re alone,” he grinned, trying to pass it as a joke even when he knew it wasn’t, and apparently Washington did too, if his arched eyebrow meant anything. Alexander sighed. “If Aaron is anything like he was in college, then I can assure you, this will work. I may find him infuriating and he probably cannot stand me, but I respect him as a professional. I know how smart he is and I’m sure he trusts in my abilities as well.”

That finally seemed to reassure Washington who let him go with a gesture of his hand and an encouraging smile. He had a plane to catch and Alexander had to get out of there and have an inner crisis because he didn’t know what to make of it all.

First of all, Jefferson knew.

That in itself wasn’t terrible because he knew the man wouldn’t go around telling it. He liked being special, and secrets always made the people that knew them and weren’t affected by them feel special. However, Jefferson was an insufferable bastard that would surely make Hamilton’s life hell whenever he could, and even if Alexander knew he had no intention to tell anyone, he would do whatever the man asked him to because he couldn’t risk making Aaron’s life more difficult.

Then, there was the thing of having to work a case with Aaron.

Back when they were together, they only made a presentation together once, and it was… challenging, to say the least. They tended to think similarly, but nobody could agree on everything, and whenever they disagreed… well, it was big. Aaron didn’t like fights; they reminded him too much of his uncle, and Alexander understood, mostly. He learnt to be careful not to raise his voice when they were alone, to never put down things heavily nor grab him brusquely nor too tight. But Alexander hadn’t known how to argue without being loud, and Aaron had reached a point in which he trusted Alexander enough that he would raise his voice as well. They worked on that presentation for three weeks, and had five big fights, aside from little arguments that didn’t escalate. Of those five big fights, three ended in sex before they could reach an agreement, and two got a little too mean which lead them to stop talking for a day or two. After the first one, Aaron went and apologized. Alexander hadn’t been expecting it and hadn’t thought he’d be as moved by it as he was, but the night of their reconciliation became one of his favorite memories from sophomore year. After the second, Alexander was the first to apologize, and Aaron had looked as surprised as Alexander had been, probably. Well, he’d looked surprised after Alexander begged him to throw away the poker face, because Aaron was really good at that and Alexander had gotten too little sleep to try to read it.

Now, Alexander suspected none of them would be too eager to apologize if they got into a big fight. Alexander didn’t doubt he would though, but he could only imagine what sort of things they could say to hurt each other, and he had his pride, no matter how much he still cared about Aaron.

Still, he copied the information in his computer and then handed Aaron the external hard drive, telling him about the meeting for the next day.

The meeting went surprisingly well. The client—Levi Weeks, CEO of one of the biggest architecture firms in the East Coast—was a little anxious, but Aaron was capable of putting him at ease after only five minutes of conversation, which was another thing Alexander had admired and tried to imitate. He’d gotten quite good at it, too, in the last years, but he wasn’t sure how he would feel if Aaron realized it had been because of him.

For one week, they worked the case separately in their offices and stayed afterhours discussing what they had, and at first it had seemed like a good arrangement. It wasn’t until Friday came and they were still at the office after midnight that they decided it wasn’t working.

“I guess we could keep working in my apartment,” said Aaron, reluctantly.

“Yes,” Alexander groaned, throwing his head back, “with better coffee and an actual couch; that would be nice.”

Aaron hummed. “But not tonight,” he clicked his tongue. “Tonight you’re going to sleep. How many hours have you slept this week?”

Alexander clicked his tongue. “Unimportant.”

Aaron rolled his eyes and started collecting his things. “You’re right; it’s none of my business. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Wait, no, no, no we have to keep working on this tomorrow! We can’t lose an entire weekend!”

Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Alright, come tomorrow after lunch. I’ll text you the address.”

“Okay,” Alexander nodded and tried not to grin. He didn’t succeed.

Aaron’s apartment was a lot like the one he’d had during Princeton, and Alexander didn’t know what distressed him more: the things that were the same or the things that distinctly weren’t. It was neat and full of plants, some of them he actually recognized, and there was an electric piano in the living room of the same brand of the keyboard he’d had in college. The couch and chairs were an impeccable white, and had nothing to do with the brown leather of the one they had in the apartment they shared, but the center table was a glass and wood rectangle as well. He could’ve made a comment that would’ve turned their afternoon awkward, but he didn’t. Before that week, he hadn’t had much time with Aaron—basically none at all—but he’d made a habit of checking which things were still the same and which weren’t. He’d been aghast when he saw him eating a donut with a Starbucks cup. Aaron always complained donuts were too large and sweet, and he hated coffee! But then even though he finished the donut, he realized the cup had hot chocolate instead of coffee, and saw him make a butterfly out of the napkin. Back in Princeton, Aaron had been physically incapable of throwing away paper before folding it in a butterfly or a dove first. The few times Alexander fell asleep while they were studying, he always would wake up with a dozen butterflies in his hair, it had been ridiculous. The first time he’d been shocked but the second time he’d almost gotten man—the fact that he hadn’t slept in three days except for a twenty minute nap had a lot to do with it—and only refrained from yelling when he realized, just in time, that Aaron had taken a picture and put it as his lock screen. Alexander was determined to use that afternoon as another opportunity to find out how much Aaron had changed in the years they hadn’t seen each other, and to avoid a confrontation for as long as he could.

It wasn’t that hard. They both agreed that their client was a little of an ass and would need a lot to make sure he’d walk away from it all without consequences. And even so, the reputation of his firm might be ruined forever, if they didn’t play their cards right.

After five hours of uninterrupted work, they were exhausted.

“Maybe we should take a break and eat something,” said Aaron rubbing his eye.

Alexander hummed as he lighted what was probably his sixteenth cigarette of the day. “We could order pizza or something.”

Aaron sighed and lighted his fifth. He hadn’t even noticed when he started counting Alexander’s cigarettes to restrict his own, like he used to back in Princeton. “Yeah, pizza sounds good. You haven’t gone mad and started liking pineapple on it or something, right?”

Alexander chuckled and shook his head. “No, I haven’t. Don’t worry,” he licked his lips and inhaled deeply. “Chicken, onions and mushrooms, right?”

Aaron wanted to be surprised that Alexander remembered, but he wasn’t. That had been one of the things that had charmed him back when he’d been a sophomore in an ‘ _American Society and Politics_ ’ class, and the argumentative kid that always sat next to him handed him a green pen when Aaron’s had run out of ink. In the three years that followed, he never saw him use green. Hell, Alexander wouldn’t even use red, he’d just underline stuff when it was important, but he’d noticed Aaron did and he’d remembered, had even started to bring them around just in case. Thinking back to it, that probably was the day he fell in love with him, and all he needed to remember it all was for the guy to recall what his favorite ingredients in pizza were.

They took a break for the forty minutes it took the pizza to arrive. They didn’t really need to talk; silence between them was usually comfortable, but at some point Alexander started complaining about Jefferson and Aaron had to join him, and before he knew it they were laughing about something that had happened earlier that week, when Lafayette had printed an eighty pages long document and didn’t notice the ink had ran out and then Jefferson made a fifteen-minute speech on accommodation and negligence in the workplace. Washington had ended up putting a new cartridge himself, just to shut him up. Alexander didn’t even stop talking to answer the door for the delivery boy, he just kept talking over his shoulder and absentmindedly handed him the money with a large tip and took the pizza out of his hands. Aaron rolled his eyes at that, but smiled fondly. Alexander was almost thirty years old, and he still acted like he’d had back when he was nineteen.

“Alright,” Alexander clapped his hands three hours later. They’d wrapped up a few things and had a good plan. “I guess we’ve done enough for today. We’re meeting tomorrow too, right?”

Aaron winced. “On Sunday, Alexander, really? Our client is not going to die if we don’t have everything settled on Monday. In fact, we’re not even meeting with him until Wednesday, so how about we actually rest on Sunday?”

Alexander rolled his eyes but chuckled. “Okay, whatever. Monday after work, then?”

“Alexander, this _is_ work.”

“Yes, but unless you want me to temporarily move in to your office we need to get together outside. If you want we can go to my place.”

Aaron didn’t want to. He nodded anyway.

He didn’t know what he was expecting of Alexander’s apartment, but he wasn’t surprised of what he found. The brown leather couch brought him memories he’d tried to bury, and there wasn’t a single plant in the place—the tiny cactus on the center table didn’t count—which made him think of all the times Alexander had complained about having to water Aaron’s.

There was only one detail that honestly surprised him. “You have a cat?” Alexander hadn’t been good at taking care of himself. How could he take care of another life?

“Yeah, meet Phillip. He’s a little shit but—oh, fuck.”

“What?” asked Aaron, smiling pleasantly as the cat purred in his arms. The cat that Alexander couldn’t touch for a week and only won over through food, and even to this day, over a year later, he still couldn’t hold for over a minute, was practically asleep in his ex’s arms.

“He’s not usually that friendly, that’s all.”

Aaron shrugged. “You know cats like me.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He cleared his throat and nodded towards the living room. “Let’ start, shall we?”

“Sure,” Aaron went to sit on the brown couch, in the right side like he used to, and kept the cat in his arms. Alexander didn’t know how they were supposed to work like that, but didn’t say anything and tried to remember how they’d left things on Saturday. Surprisingly, they managed. And the three of them didn’t move from the couch for hours, except for Alexander that went to the door for Chinese food they ordered. He didn’t even complain when Aaron feed his cat Kung Pao Chicken.

“Yes, you like that, don’t you, Phillip?”

The damn cat purred, and Alexander rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t blame him. He wanted to be fed in the mouth by Aaron as well. The cat fell asleep before they even finished eating, and Alexander jokingly offered to lock him in the balcony while they still had time. Aaron didn’t find it particularly funny, but he answered in time with a joke that made Alexander question his safety. And they laughed, they laughed for what felt like hours.

They laughed like they used to do back then.

“Man… I forgot you could be so funny,” chuckled Alexander.

Aaron snorted and rolled his eyes. “I think sometimes I forget it too.”

Alexander threw his head back and glanced sideways at Aaron. The cat wasn’t asleep any longer, but had no intention of leaving his arms, and Alexander got jealous. He wasn’t foreign to the feeling. Who hadn’t wished to be a cat at least once? But one thing was wishing to sleep all day and another one was to wish to sleep on your ex’s arms. He licked his lips and stared at the ceiling. “Did you ever mean it,” he whispered and could hear Aaron turning his head, but he kept his eyes glued to the ceiling, “back when you talked about us, about the future? Did you believe there could be one?”

Aaron inhaled sharply, but he didn’t look away. Alexander gulped and turned to face him.

“I don’t think I believed it,” he licked his lips, “but I wanted to.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah, I loved you, Alexander.”

Alexander shook his head. “You never said that.”

“And you said it all the time,” Aaron looked away. “It just seemed so easy for you to say it, it was hard to believe.”

“I never had a problem saying what I felt,” said Alexander through gritted teeth. He took a deep breath and glared at the damn cat. “I thought you didn’t love me.”

“What?”

“You were going away to Yale, and you wouldn’t say you loved me, and you…” he shook his head, “you seemed to have it all figured out, and I wasn’t part of it.” He released a watery chuckle. “And then you broke up with me. What was I supposed to think?”

“But you said you wanted to go back to New York… you said, you were the one, you, you even mentioned Stanford! I thought you…” he covered his mouth with a hand and blinked away tears. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Alexander stared. “Aaron, why did you break up with me?”

“I thought that was what you wanted.”

“But did _you_ want it?”

“You know I didn’t.”

“No,” Alexander shook his head, “I don’t know that.”

“Alexander, I… I never would’ve broken up with you if I hadn’t thought that’s what you wanted.”

Hearing those words was like getting slapped in the face by all the months he spent heartbroken, but it was releasing as well, and he was angry over all the wasted time but he was euphoric as well, because they still had many years to catch on. And feeling Aaron’s hands on his shoulders brought so many memories he wanted to revive—except those hands weren’t pulling him in, they were pushing him away.

“What are you doing?”

Alexander arched his eyebrows. “I believe people call this ‘kissing’.”

Aaron shook his head and scooped back to the edge of the couch. “Don’t be silly, Alexander.”

“What? Aaron—”

“We were talking about things we felt eight years ago, not anymore, Alexander,” he sighed. “Let’s go back to work.”

“What? You’re kidding right?”

“Let’s go back to work, Alexander. We’re meeting with Weeks the day after tomorrow, and I’d like to get everything ready today.”

 _Today_ ¸ on January 10th, so he wouldn’t need to meet with him afterhours on Alexander’s birthday, was implied.

Going back to work after that was hell, and the day after wasn’t any better. Alexander considered calling in sick so he wouldn’t need to see Aaron’s face on his birthday. It wasn’t fair. Aaron had that terrible timing, always. But he hadn’t been able to make excuses for his finals in junior year the first time he broke his heart, and he wouldn’t make excuses for work now that he did a second time. He would be professional. He could be professional. Sure.

They had that terrible timing and had to share the elevator, and like in a horrid mimic of Alexander’s first day, they didn’t say anything. Then Lafayette and Angelica joined them in the fourth floor and things got even more awkward, to the point in which Aaron practically ran away to his office the minute the doors opened on the fifteenth floor.

Lafayette frowned and shared a look with Angelica, but they didn’t say anything. Then for lunch he saw Aaron going out and he decided he didn’t need to repeat the experience of that morning so he stepped into the balcony to smoke until it was a reasonable time to go back to work, and tried not to think of the meeting they were supposed to have the next day. He wished he could’ve forgotten that it was his birthday, but he didn’t have such luck. But even with all that stress, he still was angry—perhaps irrationally so—when he received a text from Aaron telling him that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the meeting and that he trusted Alexander could handle it on his own. He was very close to go into his office to fight him, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to control the volume of his voice, and he didn’t think Aaron had fought with anybody in a while, so he would probably wince and Alexander was too angry to add guilt to his inner turmoil as well; he would probably end up crying and he didn’t need the humiliation.

He was so frustrated he didn’t even notice Lafayette and Hercules joining him in the terrace and closing the sliding doors behind them.

“Did you sleep together?” asked Lafayette.

“What? No…” he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “No, nothing like that,” he shook his head.

Hercules arched a brow. “Well you certainly are acting all awkward around each other.”

“We had a fight. We said things we shouldn’t have said, it got very personal and I’m sure none of us wants to apologize before the other does, so…” he shrugged. “It’s a mess.”

Lafayette hummed and they didn’t look convinced, but they dropped it for the day. However, when Angelica started giving him odd looks in the kitchen the next day Hercules didn’t give him time to explain.

“They deny it, but I’m pretty sure they slept together.”

“Oh…” she nodded as if that made perfect sense.

“What? Guys, no,” he licked his lips and was about to repeat his explanation of the day before when Washington, having arrived directly from the airport, called him to his office to hear how his meeting with Weeks had gone.

He knew after that, word would get around the office and everyone would be convinced that had happened, but it wasn’t his fault nor his responsibility to correct them, so he didn’t. He had enough in his mind about avoiding Aaron and trying to look like a responsible adult to care about the looks and the comments of his co-workers and friends, but then a week later even Washington started giving him those looks and he started fearing he might go insane. If he hadn’t been purposefully avoiding Aaron, he might have noticed the guy was just as stressed as he was, but he didn’t.

One morning, while he waited for his coffee, he tried to ignore the large, imposing man reading the newspaper there. It wasn’t weird for Washington to go get coffee, but he never stayed there reading. “You two should talk” he said, and Alexander winced, knowing what was coming, “about whatever happened while you were working the Weeks case.”

Alexander groaned. “We’re being distant _because_ we talked, sir!”

“Okay, sure,” he went back to reading his newspaper. Thirty seconds later, he licked his lips and asked: “But wait, the talking came before, or after the sex?”

“We didn’t have sex!”

Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have yelled. Maybe if he hadn’t yelled, he wouldn’t have so many eyes staring at him, including Aaron’s.

Lafayette, who was by the door with Angelica biting her lips next to him, sniggered. “If you say so, man.”

“Why would we lie?”

“I honestly don’t know, son,” said Washington, staring at him with curiosity.

“We didn’t—”

“Oh my god,” Aaron interrupted him loudly, “we haven’t slept together in nine years. Can you all leave us alone?” and then stormed off, as the elevator opened its doors just in time.

“Well, that certainly fills in some blanks,” mumbled Angelica.

Alexander sighed and rubbed his forehead with a hand. “It’s not what you think. We dated for over two years, and we didn’t have a nice breakup. While we were working the case, we talked some things over, that’s all.”

There came an awkward silence, broken only by Hercules: “Oh…” he licked his lips and nodded, “then you don’t need to talk, you need to have sex.”

Alexander snorted. “If you can convince Aaron with that impressive logic of yours, please let me know.”

“Oh, come on,” Angelica crossed her arms over her chest, “I thought you didn’t have any trouble getting anyone in bed.”

“Besides I’m sure you two have learnt a thing or two in nine years.”

Alexander feared he might throw up. “I really don’t want to think about that.”

“Come on…!”

“Guys,” interrupted Jefferson with a serious look, “Hamilton obviously still has feelings for Burr. A one night stand isn’t going to solve anything.”

And the awkward silence was back again. Washington seemed somewhere between mortified, wishing to be anywhere else, and interested in that morbid way one wants to hear something they know it’s none of their business. Hercules seemed ashamed and Angelica’s face was unreadable. Lafayette had pursed his lips and placed his hands in his hips. He was the one breaking the silence that time: “Then you have to tell him!”

“Do you honestly believe I didn’t already?” he sighed. “He doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

Hercules arched his eyebrows. “Did you go and tell him you still loved him and he rejected you?”

“Yes.”

“Ouch,” he winced in sympathy, and so did Washington, which Alexander wished to ignore. Jefferson seemed baffled. Officially, that day couldn’t get worse. Alexander wasn’t a superstitious man but if that week was supposed to be a sample of what it would be like to be thirty, he wished he could go back in time. Then again, his twenties had started marvelously and… well, all in all, it had been a good decade. The one before hadn’t, but he didn’t like to think about that. Drowning in his current misery was a lot more fun.

õ

Thomas Jefferson was a man proud of his hair, fashion sense, mischievousness, and perceptivity. He used it a lot in court and when meeting with clients, and had learnt to rely on it when it came to people as secretive and discreet as Burr. He didn’t need it with Hamilton. Hamilton was loud and opinionated and anyone could tell what he was thinking. Imagining what he already had done wasn’t hard either.

Really, when he thought about it, it wasn’t hard to deduce what had happened. He wanted to strangle Hamilton, but he made quite a pitiful sight, so he took a deep breath and waited for an opportunity to talk to him alone. He didn’t have to wait long. Burr was leaving early most days and Hamilton was staying late, stepping out to the terrace whenever they were in the building at the same time. He did it at lunch, when most people had left their floor, too. Hercules and Lafayette had asked him to accompany them, but Hamilton refused, and Thomas saw his chance. Softly, he closed the sliding doors behind himself and said: “You didn’t tell him you still loved him.”

“What?” Hamilton turned with a cigarette in one hand and a lighter in the other. He looked sleep deprived and shocked. “Jefferson, get—”

“Hamilton, think back to whatever conversation you had. Did you use those words? Did you say ‘I never stopped loving you’ or something like that?”

“Well, no but I—”

“Was there a reason for Aaron to think that whatever was going on wasn’t authentic, that it was happening because of the circumstances or something?”

Hamilton blinked and gulped. “Uh…”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “You are an idiot.”

“What?”

“He rejected you because he has feelings for you too, dummy. Ask him out properly, have a date, I don’t know.”

Hamilton bit his bottom lip and stared at him for a full minute. Thomas wanted to slap his face or shake him and tell him to move, but then the guy shakily took the cigarette to his mouth and nodded.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” he mumbled around the nasty thing. It took him a few tries to light it. “Thank you.”

Thomas made a dismissive gesture with a hand and rolled his eyes. “Don’t mention it. I’m just tired of watching you two pinning unnecessarily.”

Hamilton exhaled a cloud of smoke and smiled coyly. “Give Madison my regards.”

That threw Thomas off for a second, but he nodded and opened the doors to get back in. “Will do.”

After that, he just hoped his job with those two was truthfully done.

õ

Alexander took his time finishing a cigarette, and then another one, before going back in. He should’ve known. He shouldn’t have needed Jefferson’s help to figure it out, but he didn’t have time to waste at being angry at the wrong people. He knew Aaron. He did. He knew he wasn’t the same boy he’d met in his ‘ _American Society and Politics_ ’ class back in freshman year that used colors instead of simply underlining stuff and wrote song lyrics in the borders of the pages of his notebook when he got bored instead of playing with his phone like he wanted to because he was in the front row and regretted it for the entire semester but never changed seats, but he was the same person, and he was a person Alexander enjoyed being around. It wasn’t just about the things that were the same, and it wasn’t even about discovering what was different, but that he simply liked Aaron’s company. He was perhaps the one person that never criticized his train of thought and his damned cat loved him, he was witty and clever and had a dozen plants in his apartment and Alexander had gotten rid of all of them when Aaron moved out even though he’d been used to watering them every day after nineteen months of living together, and he wanted to, he wanted to water his plants and he wanted see him roll his eyes at Alexander’s coffee every day and he wanted to discuss his cases with him because Aaron always saw the big picture when he didn’t, and he wanted to give Aaron advice when he got cornered because he knew that Aaron didn’t like asking for help and would push his problems out of his head for as long as he could when he didn’t have an answer to them.

He wanted to be with Aaron, so he burst into his office and declared: “Let’s have a date.”

Aaron blinked and looked around, as if expecting to see someone else with a camera or something. “What?”

“Let’s have dinner, or let’s go to the theater. Please. Give me a chance to prove to you that this isn’t some sort of nostalgia for the past, that this is real. Tonight.”

“Tonight?”

Alexander nodded. “Let’s have dinner in that Italian place you go to when you have time.”

“That I, how…?”

“Because I pay attention,” he licked his lips, “because you still mesmerize me the way you used to. Aaron, please.”

Aaron swallowed, but his eyes never drifted away from Alexander. He nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Alexander grinned and looked around for Aaron’s coat, and threw it at his face. “Let’s go.”

Aaron took the coat and made sure it hadn’t dropped anything on his desk. “Now?”

“It’s not too early,” he shrugged. “Come on,” he nodded towards the door.

Aaron took a deep breath, stared back at his laptop, and closed it. He stood up and put on his coat. “Okay.”

The Italian restaurant wasn’t far, which was probably why Aaron would have lunch there when he didn’t have much work, but the walk there felt long when it was made in silence. Their silences were never awkward, but that one was electrifying and Alexander was bouncing with energy, biting his tongue because he was practicing what he would say in his mind and he had a tendency of thinking out loud when he did that.

Still, they remained in silence when they reached the place, and then their conversation limited to their orders with the waiter and a comment about the glasses—they were the exact same ones Alexander had in his apartment.

Finally, after they had already started eating, Aaron said: “Would it be too bad to be just friends?”

Alexander took his time chewing the ravioli in his mouth. He used a napkin, stalling, and stared at Aaron’s eyes as he responded: “Do you want to be just friends?”

Aaron wanted Alexander in his life, and that thought terrified him.

Alexander held his hand over the table and squeezed. “Aaron, if you really want that, then that’s fine. I mean, I’ll probably spend a season thinking too much about you, I’ll stare at you, I’ll get some plants in my apartment, but I’ll back off because I want you to do only what you want to do,” he licked his lips and squeezed his hand, “but if you’re not sure… if you’re not sure, then give me a chance to convince you that this is worth it because I can’t throw away a future with you without a fight, I can’t.”

“A future?”

“I know,” he chuckled, “I know it’s a little too much to talk about the future on a first date, but…” he shrugged one shoulder, “I’m thirty, you know? I’m supposed to be thinking about the future, right?”

Aaron, smiling nervously, shook his head. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“Whatever. When have I been normal? Aaron… I know it scares you that this is all because of what we already had, and I wish I could just tell you it isn’t and I forgot all about it and I simply saw you and fell in love with you as if you were a completely new person but you wouldn’t believe it, and it isn’t true anyway. But I’m not trying to go back in time, I’m not thinking of, of waking up with butterflies in my hair or talking about terrible professors over takeout. We’re not in New Jersey anymore, my hair is considerably shorter,” he grinned, “and even though I’m sure we won’t be dinning out every night or cooking, I know there aren’t going to be papers and parties and the kind of nonsense we did in college, but there is going to be a different kind of nonsense, and a different kind of parties, and a different kind of work. Aaron… even if we grew a lot being apart, we’re still us. I still have a terrible sleeping pattern and I don’t put sugar in my coffee, and I can’t believe you’re a twenty nine-year-old man and don’t drink coffee, but I,” he chuckled and shook his head, “I know we work well together. We have fun, and I’ve missed you. And I know that if I were to kiss you it would be amazing.”

Aaron took a sip of his glass of water and squeezed Alexander’s hand with the other. “You know,” he smirked.

“I know,” Alexander winked.

Aaron chuckled. “You know… unless you’ve learnt to cook in these past years, there’s going to be a lot more of takeout than what you’re implying.”

Alexander groaned. “And here I was hoping you’d tell me you’d taken a gourmet class or something!”

When Alexander had brusquely opened the door to Aaron’s office earlier, he hadn’t been expecting to go to Aaron’s apartment after dinner, but when the opportunity presented he didn’t refuse.

He hadn’t wanted to think of Aaron’s kisses too much. He’d known back in Princeton there had been a lot of kissing and a lot of sex and they had been very good at it, but the last thing he needed to think about when there was no hope was that. Still, when their lips met as he pushed Aaron against the door of his apartment, it all came back, and he pushed it away once again. He didn’t need to be distracted with memories when he had the real thing with him. He didn’t need to try and compare the pressure of the hands clenching to his shoulders, or the heat inside his mouth or the strength of his legs. All he needed was to feel, and let himself be led to the bedroom. He didn’t care if Aaron’s bed was softer or firmer than theirs had been, all he cared was that Aaron’s mouth was on his and his hands were on him and his hips were giving him the friction he so badly needed. Gasping and moaning Aaron’s name came naturally to him, and listening to Aaron sighing his had always made his blood boil and this time it wasn’t any different. He couldn’t remember if Aaron wore the same perfume, and he didn’t care, because he loved Aaron’s smell, and he loved the smell of his sheets and he was sure he would love the smell of his detergent later. The only thing he wished to check if it had change or not, was Aaron’s cuddling habits, and soon enough he was happy to find out that they hadn’t.

The morning after, Alexander woke up with a strange feeling in his head, and when he palmed it, something pricked him. With some difficulty, he managed to untangle it, only to find a little five petal paper flower on his hair, and he suspected it wasn’t the only one he had. From somewhere to his left, he heard laughter.

“I didn’t take a cooking course, but I learnt how to make a few more origami figures. This one needs a lot more paper though, so I don’t do it often.”

Alexander only stared at him.

Aaron shrugged. “Your hair is not so short. I didn’t know why you thought it would be over.”

Alexander licked his lips, stretched, and dropped a kiss on Aaron’s lips. Then he bit him.

Aaron hummed with a frown and licked his hurt lip.

“I know I remembered it with nostalgia, but the tips prickle. I think I liked the butterflies better.”

Aaron chuckled. “I’ll remember it…" he bent to get something from his bedside table and Alexander sat, curious.

“You got me a present?”

Aaron shrugged. “Yeah, maybe it was stupid, but… your birthday was coming,” he scratched the back of his head, “and we were meeting every evening.”

“Yeah, the day after I screwed up.”

“You didn’t screw up.”

“I kind of did.”

Aaron chuckled. “A little, yeah,” he bit his bottom lip. “But it was my fault too. We should’ve talked more, instead of going back to work.”

Alexander shrugged. It wasn’t important anymore, because they had figured it out anyway. He was more intrigued about the present. He shook the box, but whatever was inside didn’t make a sound. “You got me a…” Alexander blinked. “You got me a cactus.”

“It was before I went to your apartment, and I got it for your cubicle,” he bit his bottom lip. “I told you it was silly. You always complained about having to water the plants, but a cactus doesn’t need much water and well…” he shrugged.

Alexander threw his head back and laughed.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!


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